Howdy people, it’s been almost a week since I submitted any tutorials, so as a treat my first tutorial is going to be on how to draw a Dryad from Greek mythology. These creatures of nature are very graceful; they live their whole lives protecting the forest and all its trees. Now since I have been learning more about Greek mythology, it gets more and more interesting. All the different kinds of mythological creatures and Gods are quite fascinating. There is so much more to learn about, and the more I learn the more ideas I get to sketch out fantasy creatures and mythology beings. Let’s get back to talking about the dryad; they are also called tree nymphs, and there are many different kinds of tree nymphs. All tree nymphs are called Dryads; each one is born with a certain tree over which she watches over. I will name all the different ones for you so you can get an idea of the different types that there where. First you have the Meliai; these nymphs belonged to the ash tree. The sisters of the ash tree looked after and cared for the infant Zeus. Then there is Daphnaie which belong to the Laurel Tree. The story that goes with this nymph is interesting. There was a girl named Daphne who was the daughter of Ladon, she was sought out by Apollo due to an arrow shot from Eros. The arrow made Apollo infatuated with Daphne to a point where she could not bear him any longer. So, Daphne prayed to the river god Peneus to help rid her of Apollo, so he changed her into a Lauraceae tree or a Laurel Tree. The Hamadryad had super natural lengths of life. Hamadryads where like other dryads except they actually where intertwined with there tree which was the oak tree. This means that if the tree they lived in died, they would die. Because of this, the Greek Gods punished anyone who harmed trees without consulting the nymph that lived inside. All tree nymphs or dryads are said to be beautiful young ladies who are the spirits of nature. One famous dryad was Eurydice; she was a beautiful oak nymph that was married to Orpheus. They both shared a love that had a bond like no other. When she died of a snake bite Orpheus was destroyed. He knew that her soul was in the possession of Hades, so one day he asked for his beloved wife back. At first the steel hearted Hades said no but as soon as Orpheus started playing his sweet sounding music that softened his heart, he released the tree nymph Eurydice. Lastly there is another Greek tale of a King named Erysichthon. He was a king who went into the forest filled with oak trees to chop wood for a hall he was building. This particular location was considered sacred to the Goddess Demeter, and it was also favorited by dryads. Even though Erysichthon knew of the tree nymphs he did not care and began chopping. With the first blow from his axe the tree began to bleed. He still continued to cut down the tree as it bled more and more. Then he heard a voice crying out begging him to stop telling the heartless king that he is not only killing the tree but he was killing her as well. Erysichthon ignored her crying plea and eventually the harmless hamadryad died along with her oak tree. He was later punished by Demeter when she learned what he had done by the other dryads. This tutorial will show you how to draw a dryad step by step. The instructions are simple to read and understand. I hope you have a ton of fun drawing this beautiful nymph.

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